The long flexible caudal fin, without a ventral lobe, the soft, flabby body, and small, soft paired and unpaired fins, suggest that the goblin shark is a relatively inactive, slow swimming species with a density close to seawater.

Humans rarely see the goblin shark and we do not have a lot of information about them. Goblin sharks have a long, flat, pointy snout and their jaws protrude when they are eating. This makes the goblin shark look very unusual.